Recently, my husband was diagnosed with a condition that requires him to go on a Gluten Free diet.
For Avraham, his world was turned upside down...having to change his diet, giving up some of his favorite foods, seemed like the end of the world.
For me..learning the ins and outs of running a Gluten Free kitchen.
-learning about cross contamination & why it is so dangerous
-what to buy
-checking for the Gluten Free symbol
-finding new recipes
The first thing we did was check the pantry to see if we had any Gluten Free foods. To our surprise, only a couple of things were not acceptable. I sent them to Devorah.
Baruch Hashem for my daughter Naomi, who has been teaching me the ropes, and of course Whatsapp ...sending Naomi pictures of products while shopping ."is this okay or this..what should I buy" I can only imagine what other shoppers are thinking watching me.
I have learnt about rice flour, hummus flour, corn meal, potato flour, tapioca flour and the list goes on.
The difference between starches and flours and when to use each.
Many Gluten Foods contain sugar, something I avoid being a diabetic. This is another challenge for me.
Surfing the internet, reading articles about GF and searching for companies that produce GF products. Eventually, I did find several and even one in Netivot that produces many of the products we want to buy..
The local grocery stores are carrying GF bread in their freezer, pizza, baked goods and so on. Willy Foods, a food broker, supplies the grocery stores with so many everyday GF products, and so does B&D have several products that we use. Truthfully, many Israeli food manufactures have a GF line. The main problem for me is finding the right flour. I want to bake bread & cakes....GF bread is very expensive.
Avraham has been enjoying different GF breads [he tried an Italian bread and a flax seed bread that he really enjoyed], bourekas and pasta, even though he isn't a pasta fan. He was surprised how many foods are GF.
When shopping Avraham found a good quality beer..and he was happy. He is saving it for Yom Haatzmaut...doesn't have long now.
Last week for Shabbat, I baked my first Gluten Free banana marble cake and it came out pretty good.
We receive many challenges in life, some are easy to handle, others are harder. I learnt a long time ago, we never receive a challenge harder than our ability.
And so our challenge for now is Gluten Free foods...I have no doubt we will succeed.................
If you have any suggestions on GF, send me a message.
Chag Sameach
Miriam
